The director of the Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, Ana Leiva, has signed collaboration agreements today in Cáceres with the director of the Extremadura Energy Agency, Fernando López, and with the general director of the Science and Technology Park Foundation of Extremadura, Antonio Verde, to develop projects that promote employment and good environmental practices in that region, within the framework of the Empleaverde Program. The sub-delegate of the Government in Cáceres, Fernando Solís, also participated in this event.

The Biodiversity Foundation, as the managing body of the European Social Fund (ESF), allocates 1,137,343 euros to promote job creation and the improvement of the environment in Extremadura. This investment will be used to develop the projects “FORMATE-BIO” of the Extremadura Energy Agency and “ICENER” of the Science and Technology Park Foundation of Extremadura.

It will also allow the implementation of fifteen other initiatives in the agricultural, forestry, energy, environmental management and sustainable tourism sectors. These include the FSC project aimed at forest management; “Run@Forma-Emprende” by the Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente Foundation; “Green Employment Pathways” by the Spanish Railways Foundation; the Ecologists in Action project to promote agroecological production, and that of the Technical Association for Waste Management, Urban Cleaning and the Environment (ATEGRUS) aimed at the sustainable management and valuation of waste.

In addition, the projects of the Confederation of Forestry Organizations of Spain, the Conde Valle de Salazar Foundation and the University of Cordoba will have an impact on innovation and rural development, economic sustainability and job creation.

RENEWABLE ENERGIES

The “FORMATE-BIO” project of the Extremadura Energy Agency contemplates optimizing the services provided by companies that are part of the value chain of energy systems based on biomass, through better training of their employees and a general activation of the demand for this renewable energy.

The value chain to be influenced includes: farmers and cooperatives that produce waste; to biomass manufacturers; equipment installers; to the suppliers of biomass; and the end customer itself. The aim is to ensure that both economic activation and specific training reach all the agents that are related to this energy.

For its part, the “ICENER” project carried out by the Extremadura Science and Technology Park Foundation aims to improve and stimulate employment growth in Extremadura by promoting innovation in the energy and environmental areas and by promoting the creation of companies in the renewable energy sector.

The aim is, on the one hand, to improve the qualifications of workers in the construction and energy sectors in Extremadura, and on the other, to retrain workers in companies that are currently in special difficulties within the region, so that they can expand their skills and direct their activity towards other sectors with greater current growth such as the renewable energy sector and the environmental sector.